MF | Salam everyone, I hope you all had a merry time these last two weeks, clearly, KK was on hiatus due to the festivities. No, I am not a Christian (I hope that should go without saying), but I do love Christmas, it is actually my most favorite time of year, especially Christmas in Chicago, it can feel quite surreal and wonderful. But let's get the new year off to a good start, well sort of. I attended Jummah today at Mosque Foundation in the South Side (not the Ghetto South per se, but the Arab South), and well, the khutbah had some idiosyncrasies that I would very much like to share with you all, so continue reading! |
Note how the khatib has nothing covering his head.
50 something tubby Arab man.
No calligraphy on the mosque walls whatsoever, there is an atomic clock though! You would think that the Arabs of all people would appreciate seeing ARABIC on the walls of their mosque, at least having God's name if not both the God's and the Prophet's name... ridiculous.
Giving khutbah in Arabic.
"This speech about being trustworthy."
The Prophet said there is a sirat (path/bridge) people will pass over on the day of judgement, underneath it will be hell. You have to cross over.
If this is established, two things will step forth, now this is a metaphor, they step on both sides of the sirat. Whoever fails this will be down in hell.
The concept of being good in family relations, this will trip you if you don't have good ties with your family. The other is amana, trust, the general amana, which is known as taqlif, entails saying the truth, staying away from haram, or safegaurding something for someone.
Allah orders you to bring back what is entrusted to you.
Being a hypocrite, munaffiq, claiming to be a Muslim but are not has lowest place in hell. You could be a Muslim but act like a hypocrite, when he speaks he lies, when he promises he breaks them, and when he speaks he explodes in arguments.
The most important amana is your relationship with Allah, you are the servant he is the Lord.
Do not deviate from that trust, God offered this trust to the earth, mountains, and angels but only humans accepted it.
Quotes Sayyid Qutb.
You would be unfair to yourself if you fail to rise up and be a good human being.
The Prophet said, when it comes to the issue of employment look at the character, for marriage look at khuluq (good character) and din (faith).
Everyone is responsible in the position Allah has put them in.
Let me finish with this, this is also an amana, it's winter too now in Syria, and you all were generous already when we asked for your help. The weather factor is adding to the misery they are suffering under the regime. Please give generously to your brothers and sisters.
No calligraphy on the mosque walls whatsoever, there is an atomic clock though! You would think that the Arabs of all people would appreciate seeing ARABIC on the walls of their mosque, at least having God's name if not both the God's and the Prophet's name... ridiculous.
Giving khutbah in Arabic.
"This speech about being trustworthy."
The Prophet said there is a sirat (path/bridge) people will pass over on the day of judgement, underneath it will be hell. You have to cross over.
If this is established, two things will step forth, now this is a metaphor, they step on both sides of the sirat. Whoever fails this will be down in hell.
The concept of being good in family relations, this will trip you if you don't have good ties with your family. The other is amana, trust, the general amana, which is known as taqlif, entails saying the truth, staying away from haram, or safegaurding something for someone.
Allah orders you to bring back what is entrusted to you.
Being a hypocrite, munaffiq, claiming to be a Muslim but are not has lowest place in hell. You could be a Muslim but act like a hypocrite, when he speaks he lies, when he promises he breaks them, and when he speaks he explodes in arguments.
The most important amana is your relationship with Allah, you are the servant he is the Lord.
Do not deviate from that trust, God offered this trust to the earth, mountains, and angels but only humans accepted it.
Quotes Sayyid Qutb.
You would be unfair to yourself if you fail to rise up and be a good human being.
The Prophet said, when it comes to the issue of employment look at the character, for marriage look at khuluq (good character) and din (faith).
Everyone is responsible in the position Allah has put them in.
Let me finish with this, this is also an amana, it's winter too now in Syria, and you all were generous already when we asked for your help. The weather factor is adding to the misery they are suffering under the regime. Please give generously to your brothers and sisters.
This isn't the khatib that spoke today, but it is one of the more prominent speakers at Mosque Foundation, I was basically amused by this image.
So, what did you all think? Good khutbah? Bad khutbah? Undecided?
For those that have already made up their mind, good job, for the undecided voters, please keep reading.
So, on the surface, this is a quaint little khutbah, brief and to the point, the actual prayer was even more brief, 2 minutes long, pretty sweet. But... let's hash this out a little. The good points are obvious, this was a khutbah about trust and trustworthiness, very good topics. However, the khatib was like a ninja when he inserted that quote from Sayyid Qutb. I, unfortunately cannot recall it, fortunately it doesn't matter what Sayyid Qutb said, simply because Sayyid Qutb is a blatant Wahabi/Salafi whose opinion should not be regarded at all. Wanna know about Sayyid Qutb?
Well, it's been well established that he was one of the primary influences of AAA (read: Triple A), or Anwar Al Awlaki. Do we really want to get into Awlaki? Not really, do some research, he's not someone we should be learning our faith from, he was also killed a couple years ago by the US military in Yemen, the first American to be put on the kill list since he was recruiting Muslims in America to fight abroad and essentially become suicide bombers.
Qutb was placed on Al Azhar's index of heresy, this might come as a surprise since Qutb was from Egypt himself. Maybe it was because of his political ideologies about using physical force to create a Sharia abiding state, he was a significant influence for Al Qaeda and other fringe terrorist groups. All of these terrorist groups are governed by Salafi ideology which should not be a surprise, when was the last time you heard a terrorist group claiming they were following traditional Islam? I know the Salafi's skew their understanding of Islam and present it as traditional, but you would be surprised how far from the truth that is.
It's quite troubling knowing that some of our leaders are influenced by such radicals, Qutb and Awlaki are not people that should be informing you on how to practice your faith, I strongly urge you to accept this and find better teachers, they are out there, I'm sure you know of some of them already, if not, just read what's on this blog, I only cite legitimate scholars as understood by Traditional Muslims.
Anyway, enough of Qutb, it was also a surprise that the khatib had absolutely nothing on his head, he didn't cover it while it's quite clear to anyone that has read about our Prophet (S) that he was never without his turban or some form of head covering during prayers. And these people claim to follow the sunnah (Traditions of our Prophet). Right...
There was also a very strange vibe in the mosque, not a welcoming one, I didn't really feel at ease being there, maybe it was all the Arabs, haha. Not that I have anything against Arabs, our Prophet was an Arab for God's sake.
Hmm... I guess that about sums it up, Btw, don't be surprised if you hear more militant khutbahs coming from this place, they have a reputation for that.
Adieu.
For those that have already made up their mind, good job, for the undecided voters, please keep reading.
So, on the surface, this is a quaint little khutbah, brief and to the point, the actual prayer was even more brief, 2 minutes long, pretty sweet. But... let's hash this out a little. The good points are obvious, this was a khutbah about trust and trustworthiness, very good topics. However, the khatib was like a ninja when he inserted that quote from Sayyid Qutb. I, unfortunately cannot recall it, fortunately it doesn't matter what Sayyid Qutb said, simply because Sayyid Qutb is a blatant Wahabi/Salafi whose opinion should not be regarded at all. Wanna know about Sayyid Qutb?
Well, it's been well established that he was one of the primary influences of AAA (read: Triple A), or Anwar Al Awlaki. Do we really want to get into Awlaki? Not really, do some research, he's not someone we should be learning our faith from, he was also killed a couple years ago by the US military in Yemen, the first American to be put on the kill list since he was recruiting Muslims in America to fight abroad and essentially become suicide bombers.
Qutb was placed on Al Azhar's index of heresy, this might come as a surprise since Qutb was from Egypt himself. Maybe it was because of his political ideologies about using physical force to create a Sharia abiding state, he was a significant influence for Al Qaeda and other fringe terrorist groups. All of these terrorist groups are governed by Salafi ideology which should not be a surprise, when was the last time you heard a terrorist group claiming they were following traditional Islam? I know the Salafi's skew their understanding of Islam and present it as traditional, but you would be surprised how far from the truth that is.
It's quite troubling knowing that some of our leaders are influenced by such radicals, Qutb and Awlaki are not people that should be informing you on how to practice your faith, I strongly urge you to accept this and find better teachers, they are out there, I'm sure you know of some of them already, if not, just read what's on this blog, I only cite legitimate scholars as understood by Traditional Muslims.
Anyway, enough of Qutb, it was also a surprise that the khatib had absolutely nothing on his head, he didn't cover it while it's quite clear to anyone that has read about our Prophet (S) that he was never without his turban or some form of head covering during prayers. And these people claim to follow the sunnah (Traditions of our Prophet). Right...
There was also a very strange vibe in the mosque, not a welcoming one, I didn't really feel at ease being there, maybe it was all the Arabs, haha. Not that I have anything against Arabs, our Prophet was an Arab for God's sake.
Hmm... I guess that about sums it up, Btw, don't be surprised if you hear more militant khutbahs coming from this place, they have a reputation for that.
Adieu.